Day 4 - Commentary Interlude

Dear Readers,

We know we won't hear from Luke today. Day 4 is the "long day", a double marathon - 84 kilometres - and without doubt the toughest stage of the race. Most competitors will be running into the night. Some, exhausted after four marathons in three days, will camp out in the checkpoints before the finish-line (the clock is still running, but of course they have all their food and equipment with them) and stumble in the following morning. Those who make it late in the night will surface groggily, nursing what is probably one of the worst hangovers of their life (yes, it's true, though not from alcohol - deserts dehydrate you so badly that they really do give you a hangover). Day 5 is a rest-day and so the competitors will be taking a well deserved lie-in. Their spirits will be quite high, though. With the worst day behind them they will be beginning to feel that the goal of a finish is within their sights. Of course, there?s an apprecialble hurdle ahead tomorrow, a full marathon - itself no small feat itself under normal circumstances, let alone the 35 degree heat, the sand, rocks and the mountains they will encounter in the Sahara - but for that we'll hand you back to Luke tomorrow....

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Luke Cunliffe himself is a personal trainer based in London. This is his second outing in the Marathon des Sables. He has trained a number of competitors over the past few years and this year he has a few of them with him, including his wife, Charlotte.

We hope you have been enjoying our coverage of Marathon des Sables 2003. Our aim at EventRate is to get you the view from the ground - the hopes, fears, trials, tribulations and triumphs of people like yourselves who love doing these races. We have a whole calendar of races for coverage in the coming year, including the Guadarun in June and in September the Gobi March in China and the Jungle Marathon in Brazil. We will put up a full list as Luke sends his final report.